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[The president's tax cut compromise] would not pass with my support. The president ignored the Democrats in Congress. We passed a bill a week ago that was very clear what our policy was. The administration in my view has to recognize where we’re coming from on this.

I think we need to recognize that the tax proposal as announced by the president clearly displays the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Tax cuts for the super-rich simply is misguided. It doesn’t create jobs and adds needlessly to the deficit.

I know we have to compromise, but here’s a reasonable compromise – extend the tax cuts for middle wage earners for up to two years. And extend tax cuts for those above $250,000 for up to one year, saving $70 billion and invest that money in education. We could hire a million teachers, at $50,000 a teacher. And use the remaining $20 billion to build schools. That’s a reasonable compromise.

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